Second to Marilyn: Songs for a Presidential Birthday

Barack Obama turns fifty today, placing him in the esteemed company of other celebrities such as Wayne Gretzky, Ricky Gervais, and Eddie Murphy. The occasion was marked Wednesday with a high-end benefit at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom that featured performances by Herbie Hancock, OK Go, and Jennifer Hudson; tickets were priced at up to $35,800 per couple. If you want to hold on to your $17,900 and still wish the President a happy birthday, we’ve put together a playlist that will cost you absolutely nothing, composed entirely of songs from the year of Obama’s birth. There’s one for each decade, and one for good luck.

Jimmy Reed, “Big Boss Man”

There’s only one good place to start, and it’s here, with Reed’s Chicago blues classic. The city is right, the timing is right, and the sentiment is right.

Ben E. King, “Stand By Me”

The most famous of 1961’s pop songs is almost a cliché by now, but it’s slightly more relevant given the recent test of party (and national) unity over the debt crisis.

The Shirelles, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”

Though it was originally released in 1960, the Shirelles charted with this Goffin/King composition in 1961. It’s a valid question for any politician to ask; “Will You Love Me Next November,” even more so.

The Drifters, “Please Stay”

As we head toward the 2012 election, this seems like an appropriate song for Obama’s supporters. The song is noteworthy, too, for being one of Burt Bacharach’s earliest hits.

The Fleetwoods, “(He’s) The Great Imposter”

The Fleetwoods’ saga of misguided love, one of the loveliest songs of its era, is known to many from its appearance in “American Graffiti.” We’ve included it here in light of the trumped-up (and Trumped-up) controversy regarding Obama’s birth certificate.

Ernie K-Doe, “Mother-In-Law”

If Obama’s having a birthday party, there might as well be joyful songs, and there are few as joyful as this New Orleans staple, which was written by Allen Toussaint and went to number one on both the pop and R. & B. charts. But there’s no documentary truth here: Obama has a far more cordial relationship with his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, who lives in the White House with the First Family and assists with child care.

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